Mu Tau Mu of Alpha Chi Omega

On Tuesday, October 19th, the Domestic Violence Center of Cleveland hosts their 17th Annual Break the Silence Luncheon from 11:30am - 1:30pm at Windows on the River. 

Mu Tau Mu is proud and very excited to be able to sponsor two Alpha Chi Omega collegians to attend the event! Get your tickets here!

Melissa Moore, author of Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter is the luncheon speaker. 

From the event flyer: "Melissa G. Moore, the daughter of Keith Hunter Jesperson, a man infamously known as the Happy Face serial killer, shares her personal experiences of surviving domestic violence abuse and how she escaped the perpetual cycle of violence. As seen on Oprah and Good Morning America, Melissa provides strength and hope, encouraging women who blame themselves to retain their belief in their self worth and life purpose when facing adversity."

From amazon.com: "Throughout her life, Melissa Jesperson Moore had to hide her true identity. She had pretended that life was perfect after her parents divorced and she was suddenly uprooted from everything familiar and loving. She had to be silent, and to pretend not to be disturbed or upset by her father's actions. Those experiences prepared Melissa to hide the deepest, darkest secret of all. As she began making different choices, building a successful and loving life on her own, her heart began to fill with rays of hope, though she could never quite rid herself of the dark shadow of secrecy and shame. Then one day, her beautiful, innocent daughter looked into her eyes and said, "Mommy, everybody's got a daddy. Where's your daddy?" Shattered Silence is an astonishing, true narrative of personal and spiritual transformation. From her secret life as "the daughter of The Happy Face Serial Murderer" to a woman that bared her soul and inspired millions, Melissa leads the reader on the vulnerable, compelling, and sometimes very raw journey of what it took to shatter the silence, and claim her own life."

 See all the events DVC has planned for Domestic Violence Awareness Month here, and follow DVC on Twitter @DVCCleveland. Follow the author Melissa Moore on Twitter as well @missybeans.

Fall semester at CWRU begins this coming Monday, August 23rd. The Alpha Chi Omega collegians at Zeta Upsilon chapter will kick out the new year with a Sisterhood Retreat on Sunday, August 22nd, and we are proud to provide lunch for that event! Thank you, Maura ZU '87, for organizing the details for the lunch! 

To wish the chapter a successful/fun/happy semester, send a note to the house at 11421 Bellflower Rd, Cleveland, OH 44106. 

2010-11 is the Year of Water at Case Western Reserve University. Read more about the year long exploration of water at http://www.case.edu/events/convocation/

The start of the new academic year also marks the beginning of a new year for us. Can you believe we are starting our 7th year as an alumnae chapter? We had our first Exec Board meeting of the new year last Sunday and set some great goals for the next 3-5 years. We look forward to sharing more as our preliminary plans come together, and of course, all members are welcome at our Exec meetings, which tentatively will be held on the second Sunday evening of the month at 9pm EST this year. 

Alpha Chi Omega's National Housing Corporation teamed up with My World and Cat's Meow to create a series of 30 of Alpha Chi Omega's chapter houses and lodges in miniature. The most exciting part is that you can purchase a replica of the Case Western Reserve AXO house!!

The order form is here, and the code for the Zeta Upsilon House is MW003850. Each house costs $30 which includes shipping and handling. When the photos of the other houses (not pictured here or on the order form) is available, we'll add a link to the comments of this post. Happy shopping!

We'll have 2-3 more posts about Alpha Chi Omega Convention, including an official report on the business conducted there, but we wanted to share the Mu Tau Mu - Zeta Upsilon news right away!

First a little bragging: Congratulations to us (Mu Tau Mu) on doing so well in the alumnae chapter awards! We were a Finalist for the 2010 Alumnae Chapter National Council Trophy!

(Our MTM Delegate, Liz S., accepts the National Council Trophy Finalist award from the Alpha Chi Omega National Council.)

(Zeta Upsilon collegians and alumnae with the trophy: from left to right: Amy Z, Candace, Chelsea, Erin, Liz, Amy B (honorary ZU) and Susan.)

Mu Tau Mu also won the inaugural Domestic Violence Outreach Award for our 2009 Twitter #CharityTuesday project (more on that soon, so proud!). We were also finalists in these alumnae chapter award categories:

PACE (Promoting Alpha Chi Everyday)

Fine Arts

Increased Membership

Sisterhood

Communications

Special Event (for ZU's 25th Anniversary Silver Carnation Ball)

Membership Outreach

Collegiate Support - Distance Chapter

Foundation

We also had two "firsts" for Zeta Upsilon at this Convention: our first Convention Page (Chelsea) and our first member of the Convention Choir (Karen T).

(In this photo of the Convention Pages with National President Marsha Grady, Chelsea is second from left in the front row.)

(In this Convention Choir photo, Karen is in the front row on the far right.)

We are very proud of all of our awards and recognition, but in nothing are we more proud than we are of the strong friendships we share. Truly the best part of Convention is getting to see sisters! We had a table full of Zeta Upsilons for Reunion Night Dinner Saturday and were lucky to have 16 of us together at Reunion Night Part 2 hosted by alumna Nikki. Thank you Nikki and everyone who attended. We had a wonderful evening together.

(from left to right, back row: Tracy ZU '01, Liz S ZU '03, Karen ZU '01 , Susan ZU '87; 3rd row: Lisa ZU '90, Steph ZU '10, Caitlin ZU '08; 2nd row: Jen ZU '89, Amy ZU '86, Rachelle ZU '98, Nikki ZU '88; front row: Chelsea ZU '08, Erin ZU '09, Liz ZU '87, Candace ZU '09, Pam ZU '87) 

Here's a holiday that the Real. Strong. Women at Alpha Chi Omega are excited to be a part of:

"International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, IWD is a national holiday. The first IWD was run in 1911. Next year is IWD Global Centenary 1911-2011."

Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All is the theme for 2010.

The United Nations plays a major role in today's celebration and it is great to see them focusing on the elimination of violence against women:

“The “UNiTE to End Violence against Women” campaign that I launched last year is galvanizing action across the United Nations system. It calls for all countries to put in place, by the year 2015, strong laws, multi-sectoral action plans, preventive measures, data collection, and systematic efforts to address sexual violence in conflict situations. I invite Governments, organizations and individuals to join us in this Campaign. I have also just launched a Network of Men Leaders to strengthen our advocacy.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's message 
on the International Day for the Elimination of 
Violence Against Womem (25 November 2009)

We hope today you'll take a few minutes to learn more about International Women's Day and see how it's being celebrated around the world. Check out http://www.internationalwomensday.com/media/ and http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/women/ or follow along with the live blog at http://live.reuters.com/Event/International_Womens_Day_2010_2